World Pangolin Day in Africa

Pangolins are now considered to be the most trafficked animal, not only in the Republic of Congo, but across the globe. Population numbers of these scaly mammals are declining across Africa and Asia due to the high demand for pangolin scales and meat, which are used in traditional medicine and considered to be a delicacy in countries like China and Vietnam. It is estimated that over a million pangolins have been poached in the last decade, with a pangolin killed in the wild every five minutes to supply the demand for their meat and scales. It is no surprise that all eight species of pangolins, including the three found in Congo, are now considered to be threatened by extinction.

This year, in the lead up to Pangolin day a record haul of pangolin scales and ivory was seized in Hong Kong, when a refrigerated shipping container from Nigeria, said to contain frozen meat, was intercepted on its way to Vietnam. The seizure included scales of an estimated 13,000 pangolins captured from Africa’s forests, and 1,000 ivory tusks – equating to around 500 elephants. A study published last yearby scientists from the Universities of Stirling and Sussex, working in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society, suggests that wildlife traffickers are now also taking advantage of remote ivory trade routes to smuggle pangolins out of Central Africa.The study additionally found that the high international price of pangolin scales was driving up local costs, resulting in pangolin poaching and trafficking becoming a lucrative activity in Africa’s forests and cities.

”The WCS Central Africa team are working with partners, local and national, to help combat the trafficking and sale of pangolins and their scales, using a variety of innovative methods by leveraging conservation and law enforcement knowledge.

In Congo, pangolins are still sold as meat in markets in urban areas, and trafficked out of the country to neighbouring Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo, despite the national protected species status of two of the three pangolin species found in the country. In the past the illegal trade of bushmeat in urban areas, as well as the trade of pangolin scales has often been overlooked in Central Africa. Law-enforcement in Congo’s protected areas, and the vast forests surrounding them, on its own is not enough of a deterrent to stem the flow of wildlife out of the country’s wild places. To tackle these issues, the WCS Central Africa team are working with partners, local and national, to help combat the trafficking and sale of pangolins and their scales, using a variety of innovative methods by leveraging conservation and law enforcement knowledge.

CBFP News

"For over three decades, the Montreal Protocol has done much more than shrink the ozone hole; it has shown us how environmental governance can respond to science, and how countries can come together to address a shared vulnerability. I call for that same spirit of common cause and, especially, greater leadership as we strive to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change and mobilize the ambitious climate action we so urgently need at this time." UN Secretary-General António Guterres

The 6th edition of the Africa Agri Forum will be taking place for the second year in a row in Libreville, from 24 to 25 October to cement Gabon’s central place as an emerging hub of agriculture in the region.

The international symposium is open to the entire scientific community (especially promoters of SED2D-backed projects) and actors in the management and valuing of plant biodiversity, subject to prior mandatory registration (free) and depending on the symposium’s seating capacity . Those who wish to make a presentation must sign up for one of the thematic sessions listed below. Presentations can be either take the form of an oral presentation or a poster (A0 format) which can be presented in plenary along with a 2 min pitch

Dozens of heavily armed poachers on horseback attacked wildlife rangers of the Forest and Fauna Guard (GFF) stationed in the Binder-Lere Wildlife reserve. Seven (07) elephant carcasses were found throughout the reserve by GFF wildlife rangers tracking the poachers. The poachers came from Cameroon.

Brazzaville-Republic of Congo, 28 July- 1st August 2019. Two multi-institutional capacity building workshops on investigations into wildlife crimes were held for law enforcement officers at the Mikhael’s Hotel.

Signing of MoU (Collaboration Agreement) OCFSA- Luska Agreement on the sidelines of two multi-institutional capacity building workshops for law enforcement officials on wildlife crime investigation held from 28 July to 01 August 2019 in Brazzaville (Congo).

On the sidelines of the celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (JIPA 2019), the Indigenous Peoples’ Network for Forest Ecosystem Management (REPALEF) held a press briefing on 9 August 2019 in the Arche Room in Kinshasa, Gombe The main item on the agenda was the launch of the month’s activities focusing on indigenous peoples’ across the DRC.